Virtual Event ROI: How to measure and improve it in 2022

Event planning transformed since the pandemic, the entire industry and event planners had to change from in-person events to virtual events quickly. We learned along the way the advantages of virtual events; we can engage a much larger audience than with in-person events, plus we have lower overall costs maximizing our return on investment (ROI). 

However, virtual events key performance indicators (KPIs) might be a little different than those from your standard in-person event - here is how to measure and improve your event’s return on investment! 

How to measure your virtual event’s ROI

ROI (or return on investment) is a very simple but incredibly important KPI, it enables you to know if your event was worth the investment of time and money. Something we know you’re calculating in your decision-making. The virtual event’s ROI calculation is simple:

[(Total Event Gained Value – Total Cost of the Event) ÷ Total Cost of Event]  X 100 = Event ROI

So for example, if my event cost a total of $2,000 but I got $3,000 in revenue from it, my ROI for this event would be: 50%. 

But your virtual event success is not just about the bottom line, what do you want to gain from this event? It can be brand awareness (page views, attendance, social media engagement), new leads, customers or qualified lead generation (registrations), sponsorships and partners.

Make sure you take these advantages into consideration and put a price on it. Ask yourself how much you would usually be ready to pay for leads or impressions from this audience. 

Then, make sure you take into account all the investments you had to do, which can include:

• Your event management software
• Games or activities
• Hired entertainers
• Food and beverages delivery 
• Swag and promotional items
• Time spent on event organization
• Hourly rate of your event managers, speakers or hosts
• All promotion 

It’s important to determine which event data will be most useful in measuring ROI before you plan your event, so that you can make sure you track the right metrics in your virtual platform. Send a short post-event survey or NPS (net promoter score) to measure your attendees satisfaction and overall experience.

Virtual event ROI vs in-person event ROI

It all depends on your event goals and your event industry. However it’s safe to say that your ROI can be a lot better with virtual events than in-person events.

Why? You don’t have to take expenses like venue, flights, booths, promotional material, security, and more into consideration, the cost goes down tremendously, and your ROI automatically increases. 

Make sure to track your event data with a virtual event app. You can track when your attendees arrived, left, what they did, if they clicked on your sponsor banners, and much more.

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How to increase your virtual event’s ROI?

1. Set clear goals ahead of time

First off, make sure you set clear measurable goals that are aligned with your business objectives, what type of event do you need and why? A webinar, training, trade show, a hybrid event? a corporate event? A demo for your new product? 

Take the time to create a good marketing strategy, aligned with your goals, to promote your event. 

2. Provide engaging content

According to Bizzabo, half of event marketers believe it is more difficult to create unique and memorable experiences for attendees through virtual events in comparison to in-person events. Which is not surprising if the only video conference tool you have access to is Zoom.

You need to create an event that’s engaging so that people attending your event will talk about it, and keep your event memorable afterwards. A good way to do that is to invest in quality content and speakers, and use a fun interactive virtual event tool that’s outside of the comfort of Zoom. 

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3. Offer networking opportunities

Networking is a very important part of most events, may it be having booths, networking between different industries, companies, providers, and much more. But about 68.8% of event marketers believe it is more difficult to provide networking opportunities when hosting a virtual event. You’re in luck, because there are virtual apps that are designed specifically for intimate break out sessions and small scale relationship building. There are virtual networking tools like Remo available so you don’t have to set anything up yourself.

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4. Offer food & beverages options

Increase attendance and registration by offering food and beverages to your attendees. What better way to incentivize somebody than with a meal? By offering a guest something for their attendance, they feel more inclined to join and to trust you as well. Now this seems like a huge gesture, but using a food delivery app takes away all that hard work. And your guests will appreciate it. 

Other KPIs to track for your event

There are a number of other event KPIs that you can track to know your event success and improve for future events. So make sure you track all the most important KPIs for your event goals and your particular ROI. 

Here are some of them: 

• Number of Attendees
• Attendee Engagement
• Sponsorship Engagement
• Number of Sales Leads Generated
• Social media engagement (hashtag shares, social media coverage)

Get started

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If you’re an event management agency, you’ll want to use a tool that offers you all these event KPIs, great engagement, networking capabilities, and more. 

Luckily, Remo offers exactly that! Remo is primarily a virtual networking tool with an immersive map based layout for easy navigation. And even better yet, with our partner program, you can tap into a new source of revenue that’ll boost your overall ROI.